The Shy Demon and the Brash Heir
by The KDT
Summary: What happens when being constantly tortured and judged his entirely life changes Naruto into a shy kid and when the pressures of being the heir of a prestigious clans turns Hinata into a loud prankster?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: The Demon Brat

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Hey guys. This is actually the first Fanfiction I wrote. It just took forever to finish this chapter. So, in this story I have switched the attitudes of Hinata and Naruto. I know that some of these exist but here is my take on it. I decided to do this (and write Fanficiton in general) when I read The Shy Jinchuuruki by Mr. Alaska. Hope you like it.

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I own nothing. Even the original idea isn't mine.

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It was the last day of classes at the ninja trainee academy. Tomorrow, all of the aspiring, future ninjas take their exit exams to become full-fledged shinobis of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Every single student was excited to get out of the academy and continue their journey as a ninja.

Well, almost every student.

There was one student sitting in the back of the class that looked far less ecstatic than all the other students. He wore a bright orange jumpsuit with blue shoulders and a red circular symbol on the back. He had a spiky blonde hair and a nervous and frightened expression etched on his face. There sat Naruto Uzumaki, a boy that was despised throughout the Village of Konohagakure. Unknown to him, Naruto hosted the Nine-Tailed Fox inside his person.

Twelve years ago, the Hidden Leaf Village was attacked by a demonic fox with nine tails. No one knew where the fox came from or why the fox chose to attack the village, but the inhabitants of the land knew that they had much to fear. Brave shinobis and defensive villagers had all fallen to the enraged demon. The fox raged and ravaged as it destroyed the village with ease.

When all hope was lost, the Fourth Hokage appeared. The man was the leader of the Hidden Village and protected the citizens with his life. He could not stand to see the village drive into chaos by the actions of the demon. So, he decided to do a forbidden jutsu to stop the attack. This jutsu would seal the demon in a host body; however, it came with a cost. As soon as the Hokage put the demon inside the body of a newborn baby, he died.

The Fourth Hokage deemed that the baby be treated as a hero. He held the greatest sacrifice of holding a vicious beast inside so that the village can live in peace. The villagers; however, did not see it that way. They had just lost their Hokage along with their friends and families. They felt sad and hurt that they had lost so much. With all these feelings, they soon felt pure rage at the demon that caused all of this discomfort. But, since the demon was no longer around, they chose a different target for their animosity.

The boy that hosted the demon.

The Third Hokage decided to come out of retirement after the death of the Fourth Hokage. His first decree back in office was that no villager could talk of the Nine-Tailed Fox or attack its host. He believed that this would allow the host of the fox, Naruto Uzumaki, to live in a normal life. He hoped that Naruto would not suffer for something out of his control.

The villagers; however, saw a way around this law. Even though they could not physically attack the boy, they still found ways to torment the poor Jinchūruki. They shot the boy dirty looks, making him feel unwanted. They shot the boy dirty looks, making him feel unwanted. They also taught their children to despise the boy. Since they couldn't tell their kids the real reason, they used the excuse that he was a troubled miscreant. The kids believed them are teased and tormented the young boy. The called him names they heard their parents say such as "The Demon Brat: and "Disgraceful Boy." The pushed him around, kicked dirt in his face and old many other despicable things that bullies are known for.

These actions affected Naruto greatly. He didn't know why the kids tormented him (or the fact that he held the demonic fox in him), but he believed that there was something wrong with him. Ever since his time in the orphanage (his mother died giving birth); the kids have given him a hard time. Due to how he was treated throughout the village, he had grown a very shy personality. He didn't speak, stand out, or brought any attention to himself. The fear of constant torture turned Naruto into a frightened soul afraid to speak.

When he joined the ninja academy, he sat in the back of the academy. He thought that he could avoid people if he stayed out of sight, but he was wrong. The other student taunted him all the same. The worse of all being the remaining survivor of the Uchiha Clan, Sasuke Uchiha. Sasuke also grew up with nothing and therefore deemed Naruto undeserving of a ninja title. He believed that there was no reason for Naruto to act quiet. Also, the fact that Naruto was not able to perform a single jutsu gave Sasuke enough reason to taunt the unfortunate boy.

Iruka Umino, the Chūnin instructor, had walked in the classroom to instruct his students for the last time. Iruka's hair was in a warrior's wolf tail. He wears a Chūnin jacket over blue sweat suit. Naruto liked Iruka. Iruka was never harsh towards Naruto. In fact, he walked Naruto home from the academy in the first weeks on his induction into the academy. Iruka did not blame Naruto for what the Demon Fox did. As he saw it, Naruto had to take on the great burden of holding a beast that he didn't even know resided in him.

Iruka looked at all of his students with a feeling of nostalgia. "Alright class, this is our last meeting before your exams, so ..." began Iruka until he heard two girls giggling.

Iruka stared at the source of the giggles with an intense glare. His gaze landed two kunoichi-in-training. The one on the right was wearing a purple outfit. She had light blue eyes and bleach blonde hair that was in a ponytail. This was Ino Yamanaka. However, Iruka's gaze was focused more on the girl to Ino's right. This girl was wearing dark blue pants and a cram colour jacket. Her hair was cut short with a long bang on each side of her face. She had white, pupil-less eyes. She's known throughout the village for her loud mouth, sarcastic attitude, brash nature, and prankish tendencies. Right there, gazing right back at Iruka with a smirk, sat "The White Eyed Prankster" ... Hinata Hyūga.

Hinata titled her head to the left with a humoured expression on her face. "Can I help you with something, Iruka sensei?"

Iruka did not share Hinata's humour. He was tired of going through the same thing was her each day. The worst part is that she didn't do this because she was the heir of the Hyūga clan, she did this because that was just the kind of person that Hinata was. "Hinata, for one day could you please..."

"That," Hinata interrupted, "is Lady Hinata to you sir." Hinata didn't care about her title; however, she loved using it against her sensei. Seeing frustration rise in Iruka's face was an enjoyable sensation to the prankster.

Iruka always hated how the conceited heiress always made a point to embarrass him in class. A sign of disrespect from any other student would result in severe punishment. However, he would not scold the Hyūga brat on this case for one reason. It wasn't that she was the first born of one of the most prestigious clan, yet it was because she had become a good friend to a certain demon.

*Flashback Time*

It was regular day at the academy. The kids were now enjoying recess before they went back to listen to more of Iruka's lectures. For the students this was a time to relax, eat their lunch, or practice their taijutsu (sparring). Students littered the playground; talking about classes, eating their lunches with glee, or running around and playing. Everyone always had fun during the break.

Everyone except for Naruto Uzumaki.

Naruto had the same routing for his recess time: sit behind a tree that was out of view, eat his lunch in silence, and stay out of contact with everyone else. Naruto tried to make sure that he would never find himself in trouble. He just wanted to complete a day of school and then go home with no trouble. However, for Naruto that was more of a dream than a reality.

Unfortunately, this happened to be another bad day for the Jinchūruki. As Naruto started to eat his rice, Sasuke walked up to Naruto with a crowd on fan girls, led by Sakura Haruno. Sasuke wears a blue shirt with the Uchiha emblem on the back with white shorts. His dark hair was spiky in the back. Sakura wore a long pink dress and had long, flowing pink hair. Every recess period, Sasuke walked across the school grounds with a group of girls following behind him. He didn't care for the girls, but the crowd made him feel like the big man of campus. And the big man of campus could do whatever he wanted.

"Well if it isn't the 'The Dead Last Pariah' himself," Sasuke said as he walked up to Naruto with an evil grin across his face. At once, Naruto stared at the ground fearing the worse. At that moment, Sasuke pushed Naruto to the ground and then proceeded to kick dirt in Naruto's face and his lunch. "Ha ha ha, come on loser. If you are a real ninja, why don't you get up and umph?"

Naruto instantly stopped feeling dirt being kick on his face. He looked up and saw Hinata standing right between him and Sasuke, who was now holding his chest. Hinata, for one of the few moments in her life, had no trace of a smile on her face. She was furious and held her fighting stance against Sasuke. She did not activate her Byakugan yet, but she still delivered a well enough hit that dropped Sasuke to one knee.

Sakura, at once, rushed to Sasuke with her arms around him for comfort. "What are you doing, you white-eyed freak? Why would you resort to something as cowardly as attacking someone who isn't paying attention."

"Ha. That's a laugh," Hinata chuckled, not dropping her guard. "The guy who walks around with a gang and picks on a single kid, who is trying to eat his lunch in peace, is a true act of bravery. Of course, I would expect nothing less from an Uchiha," Hinata ended with a smirk.

At that comment, Sasuke shook out of Sakura's arms and stood in a fighting stance against Hinata. It was a rivalry between the Uchiha clan and the Hyūga clan. There was no knowledge on when or why it started. But both clans had the same thing on their minds, that they would be one to end it.

Before the two could engage in a match of Byakugan versus Sharingan, Iruka appeared out of nowhere. He took a quick look at the scene in front of him. To his left, he saw Hinata not taking her eyes off of Sasuke nor putting her guard down. Behind her, he saw Naruto on all fours, covered in dirt, staring up at Hinata in bewilderment. In all of his life, no one besides Iruka had stood at Naruto's defence. Iruka then looked over to the right and saw that Sasuke had made himself look like the victim. He also saw that Sakura had broken the ranks of the girls and started to approach her sensei.

"Save it, Sakura. I saw the whole thing. I suggest that you take your friends somewhere else to hang out. Sasuke, follow me. Naruto, you covered in dirt. Clean yourself up before class resumes. Lady Hyūga, if it isn't too much of a bother, could you please accompany Naruto." Hinata nodded to her sensei as Iruka grabbed Sasuke's arm.

After he left, Hinata shot a nasty glare to Sasuke's fan girls and they dispersed in fear. She then turned to Naruto with a cheerful expression and held out her hand. "Hey, you all right?" Naruto got up, brushed himself off and nodded to Hinata. Hinata gave a puzzled look at Naruto and then asked, "You don't talk much, do you?" Naruto quickly shook his head no. "I thought as much. Well, from this day forth, I declare that Hinata Hyūga and Naruto Uzumaki are friends," she said as she held her arm up as if she was a queen. Naruto let out a small chuckle. "Good, I got a laugh out of you. Now hold still for a moment," she said as she pulled a cloth out of her pocket. She then proceeded to wiping the dirt off of his face. This brought a small brush to the blonde boy. When she finished, the bell started to ring. "Okay, let's go to class," Hinata said as she skipped to class. Naruto just stood there shocked at what happened in the past hour. Hinata almost walked into the building until she looked and saw Naruto had not moved at all. "Aren't you coming Naruto-kun?" Naruto shook himself and rushed to Hinata smiling, happy that he finally made a friend.

*Flashback Time Over*

Ever since that day, Naruto had slowly improved in his confidence. When he responded to people, he would now speak. His eyes would stay to the floor and he was barely audible, but the fact that he felt somewhat comfortable talking was an improvement from before. He never started a conversation, but it was clear that there would be a time when that would happen. So, Iruka would allow Hinata to get away with some things as a show of thanks.

"Lady Hinata," Iruka said through gritted teeth, "This is the last day before exams. Can you please entertain me and not interrupt today's teachings?"

"Well," Hinata said in a smart tone, "Since you asked sooo nicely, I would be happy to oblige you.

"Thank you," Iruka replied. "Anyway ..."

*8 hours later*

"Wow that class was so long. I thought it wasn't going to end," Ino complained as she walked home with Hinata, Naruto, Kiba Inuzuka, and Chōji Akimichi. Kiba, who walked with his dog companion Akamaru, was wearing a blue hoodie with fur and brown pants. His black hair faded into the fur on the hoodie. Chōji wore grey shorts with his legs and arms wrapped in tape. He also was wearing a green jacket with a white shirt that displayed the Akimichi emblem. Luckily for Naruto, the parents of Ino, Kiba, and Chōji felt not disdain toward the host of the demon fox, so they were not taught to despise Naruto.

"Well, it was the last day. I expected that it would take some time, but it doesn't matter. As of tomorrow, we will all be full-fledged ninja of the Hidden Leaf Village. Believe it," Hinata said confidently, wrapping her arms around the necks of Ino and Naruto.

"Well," Naruto said quietly, "We s-still have exams to finish." Hinata and the rest of the gang were used to the way Naruto spoke and no longer had to ask Naruto to repeat himself. However, his comment left Hinata quiet for a moment. She had no doubt that Ino, Kiba, Chōji, or herself would pass the exams. It was Naruto that made her worry about tomorrow. When it came to the written exams, Naruto was arguably the best student in the class. He always took notes and studied very hard for the exams. He always scored a perfect score on all written tests, but it was a different story when it came to jutsu production. Naruto had never completed a single jutsu. Whenever he attempted a jutsu, nothing ever happened. His worse attempts would come from the clone jutsu, when it would cause a blow back attack, launching Naruto into a nearby wall.

Hinata knew that Naruto was as worried about the exam as she was, so she decided to put on a brave face for him. "I swear Naruto-kun, you worry about the smallest things. There is no way that we are gonna be ninjas by tomorrow. Well, as long as a certain someone puts down the potato chips to actually take the exam, we will all be fine," Hinata joked pointing to the Akimichi boy, who had just finished eating a bag of barbeque chips.

"Hey, I can do both for you information. What about you, Lady Hyūga? Can you stop pulling pranks on people long enough to take the exam?" Chōji asked with a stern look.

"He has you there, Hinata. I don't think I can remember one exam where you haven't done something to disrupt class." Kiba agreed with Chōji.

Hinata looked straight at Ino. "I cannot believe that would say that I would not take an exam seriously. Can you believe it, Ino?" Ino just giggled while shaking her head. "How about you Naru..." Hinata turned her head only to see that Naruto wasn't with them anymore. "Naruto?"

Ino saw the look of concern on Hinata's face. "Don't worry Hinata," Ino reassured her, "Naruto most likely went home to get ready. He will be in class tomorrow and become a ninja like the rest of us." Ino gave Hinata a big smile to show her there was nothing to worry about.

Hinata returned the smile. "Yeah, you're right. There is nothing to worry about," Hinata replied. She couldn't get the thought out of her head, though, that one of her friends would not be joining her as a fellow ninja.

*The Next Day*

At the academy, the students were already becoming ninjas. All the students were very happy to receive their leaf headbands. To be honest, they didn't know if it was better to be out of the academy or to be able to protect the land that they love. The exams were almost done and not one student had failed yet.

However, "The White-Eyed Prankster" did not feel happy at all. Placing the headband around her neck, she sat in her seat with her head in her arms. Ino was currently completing her head in her arms. Ino was currently completing her exam, being that Yamanaka was the last name alphabetically in the class. However, one student had yet failed to arrive to the school. Naruto was not there at school and after hearing Ino go after Sasuke and not Naruto, Hinata's confidence in her friend began to disappear.

She never thought of Naruto to skip one day of school. In fact, she had relied on Naruto for notes when she had decided to play hooky. Hinata knew that Naruto was worried about the exam, but not to this extent. It didn't help that Sasuke had also noticed Naruto's absence. He kept on declaring that Naruto was too much of a coward to even accept his failure like a man. Hinata would usually attack anyone for making fun of any of her friends, but the fact remained that Naruto had not arrived, making Sasuke's claim truer by the minute.

Ino walked out with her headband in her hand as she flashed a big smile towards Hinata. Her smile quickly turned to a frown as she saw Hinata sulking in her seat. She walked over to Hinata and put a hand on her own hip. "Earth to Hinata. Earth to Hinata."

Hinata raised her head with a sombre expression on her face and looked at the headband in Ino's hand. "Oh, congratulations Ino. Where are you going to place it?"

"I haven't decided yet, but that isn't important right now," Ino said with a stern look directed at Hinata, "Are you seriously this upset that Naruto isn't here yet?" At this statement, Hinata's head went back down to her arms. Ino hit her head out of frustration. "Hinata, when have you ever been the girl to wait around for something? If you're wondering where Naruto is, why don't you go and look for them."

A few seconds passed and then Hinata rose up with her signature smile on her face. "You're right Ino. I'm going to go find Naruto." She jumped out of her seat and headed towards the door. At that moment, the door opened up to reveal none other than Naruto himself. At first, Hinata stood there stunned, but recovered seconds later and said, "Naruto-kun, how dare you keep me..." She stopped quickly and then noticed how Naruto looked.

Naruto had dirt marks all over his face. He had bruises and bumps all over his body. His arms dragged from over exhaustion. Finally, his body seemed to be drenched in sweat. "Naruto," Hinata said quickly, "What have you..?"

"Naruto Uzumaki, please enter."

Hinata turned around to see Iruka, as Naruto walked passed her without a second look. Hinata stood there with a surprised look on her face as she watched the door close for Naruto to take his exam.

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I think this came out pretty review it. And it might take some time before I upload again.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Guess what. Naruto doesn't belong to me so I can really benefit from it. Darn it.

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Author's Note: Here is chapter 2 of this Fanfiction. I finished this some time ago, but my computer was stupid. I hope you like it, this took some time.

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Chapter 2: A Second Chance

Hinata stared intently at the door that her shy friend was on the other side. She was worried that Naruto would fail the exam at the beginning of the day. However, she now had no idea how Naruto would fare taking this exam. The Naruto that walked through the academy door was not the Naruto that Hinata talked to yesterday. Hinata knew that Naruto practiced all the time to become a "better ninja", as he put it, but this was the first time she had seen Naruto in this type of way before. He obviously had been practicing extensively training; it was the only explanation for his appearance and his tardiness. Hinata could only imagine what extensive training Naruto put himself through this morning. However, there was something that Hinata noticed that troubled her more than his "battle scars."

In her entire time knowing him, Hinata always saw Naruto's eyes on the ground. Whether it was taking notes in class, having a conversation with his friends, or working in a group, Naruto could never look anybody in the face. However, Naruto was different today. When he walked past the Hyūga earlier, Naruto has his head held high. There was an air of confidence around him that rivals the confidence of "The White-Eyed Prankster." This new Naruto was something that Hinata was not prepared for. Sure, she was not a fan of how shy Naruto was, but the overnight change that Naruto exhibited was less than comforting for the heiress.

Hinata suddenly noticed that the noise in the academy subsided. She looked around to see that everyone in the academy was focused on the door. Even Shikamaru Nara had decided to take his eyes from the windows to watch what would become of the "Dead Last Pariah." Shikamaru was a lazy boy who wore his hair in a warrior's wolf tail. He wears a fishnet shirt with a short grey jacket over it. His also wore long brown pants that almost reached his blue sandals. However, the most known thing that Shikamaru wore was a bored expression on his face. He seemed to care for nothing, always referencing things that took effort as a "drag." However, Naruto's appearance today must be very intriguing, if it caught the attention of the Nara.

The Hyūga girl turned to her best friend who was also staring at the door holding the blonde boy. "Ino," Hinata questioned, "What are you thinking about?"

Ino turned to Hinata was a puzzled expression. "Most probably what everyone else is thinking, what happened to Naruto? It's not every day that we see an entrance like that. The fact that it is Naruto makes it more confusing."

"Do you think Naruto-kun will be okay?" Hinata asked.

Ino could tell that Hinata was very worried about Naruto. It wasn't very obvious, but Ino could tell Hinata's feelings towards the shy boy. So, to make her worry less, she decided to put on a fake smile for her best friend. "Come on, Hinata. The determination on his face proves that he is fine. I would be surprised if he came out of that room without a head- ..."

At that moment the doors opened. At once, everyone in the room leaned closer to see what had become of the "Unwanted Orphan." Even Sasuke was curious if Naruto had become a fellow shinobi. Naruto had walked into the room in view of everyone and Hinata let out a small gasp. Out of the entire class, Naruto was the only ninja who failed the exam. Naruto, at once, reverted back to his old ways and kept his head down as he walked out of the academy.

"Naruto-kun," Hinata called out, but her plea fell on deaf ears. Naruto walked out of the academy without a look back. Hinata could not believe that Iruka-sensei would fail him, especially when Naruto was so determined to pass this exam. Her frown turned to a scowl as she heard a familiar cackle behind her.

"Ha ha ha," Sasuke cackled after Naruto left. "I can't believe I actually thought that loser could possibly become a ninja. It's not like any us should be surprised that he failed. It's not as if that wimp..."

Sasuke was cut off quickly by an angered prankster. Hinata now had the Uchiha bully by the shirt with her right palm pulled back ready to strike. That alone would be worrisome for Sasuke, if he wasn't looking at the Hyūga's eyes. Hinata eyes showed the activation of the Byakugan. The Byakugan was a special ability only known to the Hyūga clan, their kekkei genkai. When activated, the veins in their pupils become visible and the clan is granted with the ability to see chakra points in all things. This helps their gentle fist style, which allows them to stop the chakra flow of an opponent. The Byakugan was activated when a Hyūga was challenged. However, Hinata was not like most Hyūgas. After Sasuke's comment about Naruto, Hinata had the intent to destroy the Uchiha.

"LADY HYŪGA, PUT SASUKE DOWN AND RETURN TO YOUR SEAT"

Hinata turned around to a stern look on the face of Iruka. She only looked at her sensei with a scowl, since she was not happy with him either. But, for the time being, she had decided to drop the scumbag and return to her seat. When she sat down, Ino placed a hand on Hinata's shoulder and whispered to her that it would be okay.

"I'll deal with you after class," Iruka said as he turned his attention to the rest of the class. "Congratulations everyone, you have passed your exams. You are now full-fledged shinobis of the Hidden Leaf Village. Come by tomorrow at 800 to receive your teams and jōnin. Dismissed!"

Everyone fled out of the classroom quickly except for two newly appointed kunoichis. Hinata had to stay back duet to Iruka's demands (Hinata had some things to say to her sensei anyway). Ino also stayed back. She feared what would happen if she let her best friend stay alone with Iruka in the state that she was in. She made sure to stay by her side in case their talk went out of hand.

Iruka waited for everyone to leave to see the two best friends of the academy in their seats. Iruka sighed and turned her attention to the bleach-haired kunoichi, "Ino, could you please leave us to talk."

"But, Iruka-sen..

"It's okay Ino," Hinata said. She kept her eyes on the Chūnin while addressing her friend. "Everything will be just fine."

Ino gave a worried look from her sensei to her best friend. She was about to say something, but decided against. Nothing she could say would calm the situation down, so she decided to leave before things turned heated.

Iruka watched as the Yamanaka walked out of the door. He then turned his attention to the Hyūga. "Lady Hyūga, no matter what your feelings are towards Sasuke, you can't just attack him. No matter what he says about another student, you have to just bear it." He waited for a moment, noticing that Hinata had kept a blank face to him with her fist clenched in anger. "Lady Hyūga, do you understand what I'm saying to you?"

"How could you?" Hinata said silently, shaking with anger.

"Excuse me?" Iruka asked, confused by the Hyūga's response.

"How could you fail Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked.

"Lady Hyūga, that is not of your concern nor is it the topic at ..."

"NO," Hinata screamed at Iruka. She could not keep her anger in anymore. She was beyond rational thinking. She did not care that the man in front of her was older or wiser than her. All she saw was someone who killed the dream of her friend. "How can you stand there and tell me that Naruto did not deserve to become a ninja. He works harder than everyone else and works hard. Despite everyone teasing him and belittling him, he still tries his hardest to become a ninja. And you saw him today. How could you look at him today and tell him that he isn't good enough to be a ninja. Tell me Iruka-sensei" Hinata ended with tears starting to well up in her eyes.

Iruka looked at his former student with concern. In his entire time knowing her, Hinata had never lost her cool. She would be mean and brash at times, but she never had blown up at anybody. Also, she had never used the word "sensei" when addressing Iruka. Iruka thought that he should at least give in to Hinata's request. There was no point in scolding her about attacking Sasuke. All she was focused on was her friend not joining her as a ninja. "Follow me Hinata; I want to show you something," Iruka said as he walked into the exam room.

Hinata followed Iruka into the room, not making any comment about her title. When she walked in the room, she noticed that the room had changed slightly. The other two Chūnins had left just leaving an empty desk with a metal cabinet behind it. The Kunai knife targets had been taken down and put away along with the sparring dummies. Iruka went to the metal cabinet and pulled out a file with the name Uzumaki, Naruto. He handed it to Hinata, who snatched out his hands. Hinata opened the file up, read the information inside and eyes widened in shock.

Hinata could not believe what she was seeing. Naruto has scored perfect on ninja vocabulary, visual simulation, and ninja rules section. This was not a surprise because Naruto had always excelled in these areas at school. However, the next areas were what caught Hinata's interest. Naruto scores were always failures when it came to the categories of kunai throwing, evasion, and close combat. However, not only did Naruto pass those sections this time, he scored very high scores on each subject. On the comment side, it said that Naruto had slipped during the evasion section once and that one of his punches didn't hit the dummy. For Naruto, that was a huge improvement to how he usually performed on those sections. The more Hinata looked at the scores, the more confusion started to replace the anger that she once felt. "But..."

"Look at the back and it will answer your question," Iruka said, back turned to Hinata.

Hinata turned the page around that held the last section of the exam, jutsu execution. This section was the portion where everyone had to execute a random, basic jutsu. Naruto had apparently received the same jutsu that Hinata did, clone jutsu. The section had a zero in the grade mark that led to an overall falling grade. She looked at the comments and it stated that he produced a pale clone that was not able to stand or provide a convincing distraction. Naruto, himself, was panting heavily after completing the jutsu. Hinata dropped the file in disbelief. "But, Naruto..."

"...didn't complete the jutsu which led to his failure," Iruka said turning to Hinata.

"But..."

"Hinata, think rationally for a second," Iruka said firmly. "Yes, Naruto had improved greatly in a span of a few days, but he couldn't finish the jutsu. Everyone else given that jutsu, including you, was able to complete the jutsu. It wouldn't be fair to him to make him a ninja. He would just feel like he would be holding everyone back." He then put a hand on Hinata's shoulder. "I'm sorry."

Hinata looked away from her sensei. She knew that he was right, but she didn't like it. She wasn't mad at Iruka anymore. She knew that Iruka was truly sorry for Naruto's failure. She had to accept it and comfort her friend in any way she could.

*Outside the Academy*

Naruto was sitting alone on a swing outside of the academy. Behind him were students meeting with their families, enjoyed that the children had become full-fledged shinobis. He heard them laugh and celebrate with each other about their success. Naruto was nothing less of disappointed a ninja, he even practiced all night to perfect his skill, but even that wasn't enough. He didn't believe that he could feel any lower than he did anymore.

"Hey, do you see that kid over there"

Naruto heard the comment and assumed that they were talking about him. He knew people talked about him behind his back. Ever since Hinata, Ino, and the others started to be his friend, the gossiping didn't bother him as much. He only wondered why they talked about him. What did he do that made the entire village hate him?

"Yeah, it's the..."

"Shhh. You know we can't talk about it." Pause. "I heard that he failed the exam."

"Good. Could you believe what would happen if that _thing_ became a ninja."

Naruto was lost in thought after that statement. Maybe those two had a point. What good would it do to be a ninja in a village that despised him? Should he really protect a village that would rather him dead?

"Hey, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto turned around to see a smiling Hinata walking towards him. "Hello, Lady Hinata," he whispered as he turned his head to the ground.

_Looks like the confidence act was a onetime thing_. Hinata thought as she shook her head. "Naruto-kun, I told you that you don't have to call me lady," Hinata said, shaking her head. "Can I sit down?" Naruto nodded his head and Hinata took a seat on the adjacent swing. She started to swing and said, "You know Naruto, you got everyone's attention today." Naruto's head shot up and looked at her in shock. "Yeah, everyone saw how hard you prepared for the exam. Everyone was sure that you would pass the exam." At this statement, Naruto's head went back to his old self right now. "Don't worry Naruto, I'll help you pass the next time, okay?" Naruto didn't respond with words or body language. Hinata thought that maybe Naruto didn't hear her, so she jumped off the swing and stood in front of Naruto. "Naruto-kun," she said. Naruto raised his head. "I said that I'll help you the next time around, okay?" Naruto gave her a blank stare. Hinata started to grow irritated. "You do want to become a ninja, right?" Naruto's head went back down to the ground.

Naruto's comment enraged Hinata. She grabbed Naruto by his orange jacket. "If you don't care, then why should I?" Naruto could only stare wide-eyed in fear as Hinata's face stared into his soul. "You were so close to passing that exam Naruto-kun, did you know that? I told Iruka-sensei that you still deserved to be a ninja because all of the hard work that you do. But obviously I was wrong since you don't care. If you don't want to be a ninja then why join the academy. Was this just a joke to you? You know what Naruto-kun, don't ... don't talk to me," Hinata said as she stomped away from Naruto in a huff.

Naruto only watched as Hinata walked away from him. He did not mean to upset the only person in the Hidden Leaf Village that treated him nice. He just was confused about why he wanted to be a ninja. Now he was crying because he depressed Hinata. Naruto then noticed that everyone was looking at him. He then ran away in fear, crying the whole way.

*With Hinata*

Hinata started to calm down as she walked down the street. She couldn't believe that Naruto could make her that angry. She cared about Naruto a great deal, but it was getting tiresome to try and help him when he seemed unable to help himself. She started to wonder why Naruto worked so hard for the exam if he had no passion to become a ninja.

As she wondered this, she noticed that someone was following her. She walked a little bit more, and then quickly lunged at her attacker. Her arm was grabbed as she looked up and her eyes widened. Grabbing her arm was the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi. He wore a red hat with a white corner in the front that had the kanji for Hokage in the front. He also wore a red and white robe to signify that he was the Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village.

"Sorry for following you, Lady Hyūga," the Hokage said with a smile as he dropped her arm, "I just wanted to know if you would accompany me for some ramen?"

*With Naruto*

Naruto had run all the way to the training field. He was sitting down on one of the benches for people to rest on after training. However, Naruto was sitting there thinking if being a ninja was right for him. He didn't want Hinata to think of him as someone who didn't care to be a ninja. He did join the academy a long time ago so he could be respected by the entire village. It was just hard to strive for something when no one was behind you.

"Hello Naruto," Mizuki, one of the Chūnin exam proctors for the trainee exam, had just arrived. Mizuki had light blue hair that reached to his shoulders. He wore the traditional Chūnin outfit with the green vest and dark pants.

Naruto's head instinctively went down as Mizuki approached. "Naruto, why don't we chat?"

*At Ramen Ichiraku*

Hinata did not understand why the Hokage would take time out of his schedule to talk to her. She never showed him any respect. She referred to him as old man and had painted over his face on the Hokage statue on numerous occasions.

"He does care," the Hokage said as Hinata started her ramen.

"What?" Hinata choked on her food. "What are you talking about?"

"Naruto, he cares about being a ninja very much. It's his lifelong dream to become one."

"Then... why does he ..."

"Because of the village. He's afraid that if he becomes a ninja, the village will not even accept him as one and torment him even more."

"That is so stupid," she screamed in frustration. She could not stand how the village would treat Naruto like crap. "Why is everyone against Naruto? What did he do to that makes everyone give him the dirty eye and reject him before they get to know him?" Hinata said as she loudly slurped her ramen.

"I am curious. What makes you care about Naruto?" Hinata shot him a curious look. The Third Hokage held his hands up in defence as he said "Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful that you are kind to the boy. I just wonder why. You see that most people would not show him that kindness, so why did you?"

Hinata thought about it for a moment. "Well, he is very kind and sweet. He never thinks of himself, always trying to help people. Anybody that would give him a chance could see that easily," Hinata stopped as she took another slurp of her ramen. "Old man, why does the village hate him?"

The Hokage turned away from Hinata and looked down, "I... cannot tell you that."

"Wait... you know what it is?" Hinata questioned.

The Hokage looked back at Hinata. "There is a law; this law forbids anybody from speaking about this. Only when Naruto finds out and decides to talk to people will find you out." At this statement, the Third Hokage left the stand and paid for Hinata and his ramen without another word. Hinata just stared at her ramen, confused on what the big secret could be.

*At the Training Ground*

Naruto felt awkward around Mizuki. He only felt comfortable around Iruka and Hinata. He was getting used to Ino and the others, but he still felt a little uncomfortable around them. He had never talked to Mizuki outside of class before.

"Don't think we were being harsh towards you Naruto," Mizuki said with a comforting voice. "We knew that you had greatly improved for the exam. We actually had quite a discussion about allowing you to pass, but in the end we decided that you couldn't be a ninja, if you couldn't perform the jutsu."

Naruto nodded slowly. He knew that his failure of a clone jutsu lead to his failure of the exam. That was why he was gonna train harder until he could perform the jutsu successfully.

"However," Mizuki continued, "that doesn't mean that it is all over." Naruto's head shot up and Mizuki smiled, "That's right. There is one other way you can become a ninja."

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I hoped you liked it. Please review, I read them and take them into consideration. Which is why I changed the style of inside thoughts. Please read all my other FanFiction, they do exist.


	3. Chapter 3: Naru-Hina-Cho

Chapter 3: Naru-Hina-Cho

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Sorry that I've been away for so long, I've been busy with college and running an anime convention. Anyway I'm back and writing for all of my Fanfictions. I've even got halfway through my Beyblade fanfiction. Continue to read and review, I love you all that like what I do.

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I own nothing of Naruto. I'm just a really big fan.

* * *

Walking in the forest was something Hinata always did at night. She found this walk very peaceful and relaxing. She also had no fear of any thieves or muggers, believing that she could take them out in an instant. Usually, Hinata would take her late time strolls to escape the pressures of being the heiress of the Hyūga clan. The title gave her attention, prestige, and admiration that she did not want. She wanted to be treated like every other child. However, the prankster had more distressing thoughts in her mind.

The day's events played constantly in the young girl's mind: becoming a ninja, seeing Naruto join her as a fellow shinobi, conversing with Iruka, yelling at Naruto, and talking with the Third Hokage. The last two were events plagued the pale girl the most. Learning that Naruto was trying to become a ninja, even with the hatred of the entire village focused on him, made Hinata fell awful for two different reasons. First, she had yelled at him for not caring about being a ninja, when in fact, it seemed that was the only thing that Naruto actually cared about. Also, the fact that the villagers still openly despised her blond friend, even with all his hard work, made Hinata sick. She tried to think of a reason of why everyone loathed the orphan, since the Third Hokage said it was a secret that Naruto would have to disclose to her. However, the ideas that raced through Hinata's head did not seem like likely reasons to explain the hatred that Naruto received every day. _Maybe I should help Naruto become more liked throughout the village_, Hinata thought. _Thinking about what's wrong isn't going to help him._

And she started to think of ways to improve Naruto's image around the Village Hidden in the Leaves, she heard movement beyond the tree. _Who else could be in the forest_? Letting her curiosity take over, she moved towards the sound to find out who had joined her in the forest.

*With Naruto*

Naruto had finally stopped in a clearing of the forest. Ever since his talk with Mizuki, Naruto had taken the necessary steps of fulfilling his dream of being a ninja.

*Flashback*

Naruto was shocked and relieved that there was another way to become a ninja. "What do I have to do, Mizuki sensei?" he said excitedly.

Mizuki laughed at Naruto's eagerness. To be honest, he was also surprised to hear Naruto's voice clearly. As long as Mizuki heard him, Naruto was barely audible. He only raised his voice slightly when he spoke to Hinata or Iruka. "Calm down. It's actually not that difficult. All you have to do is grab one of the jutsu scrolls from the Hokage's office. In those scrolls are Jōnin level jutsu. If you learn one of them you will be more than skilled enough to be a ninja. However," Naruto frowned at this word, 'If you are found before you can learn the jutsu, you will lose the chance to ever become a ninja."

Naruto thought about the task that was offered in front of him. He didn't know if he could accomplish the task. Plus, he also feared what could happen if he failed. But he **did** want to become a ninja, as well as show Hinata that he was serious about it. "I'll do it."

*End Flashback*

Naruto smiled as he set the giant scroll down. He didn't find the first part of the "extra credit" to be difficult at all. There was no one around the Third Hokage's office and there was a large assortment of scrolls to choose from. The hardest part of the assignment was carrying the scroll throughout the forest. He decided to learn the jutsu straights away so he could become a ninja fast as possible.

He opened the scroll and looked at the first jutsu: Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu. Naruto eyes went wide with shock. When it came to produce shadow clones, Naruto was not able to accomplish that feat. Out of all the jutsu that he attempted to perform, this jutsu always turned out the worse. In fact, the shadow clone jutsu was the reason he was in this predicament in the forest.

Naruto took a deep breath to calm down. "If I learn this jutsu, then no other jutsu will be a problem anymore," Naruto said to himself. He looked at the instructions for the advanced jutsu and started practicing.

*With Iruka*

Iruka had just started the search for the scroll and the thief who took it from the Hokage's office without permission was a serious crime. He wondered who would dare to go something so dangerous and foolish.

*Flashback*

"I'm here Lord Hokage," Iruka said arriving. He saw that the room was filled with many Chūnins, Jōnins, and ANBU members. ANBU members are shinobis hand-picked by the Hokage because of their special skills. They wear masks to conceal their faces. They specialise in missions including recon, assassination, and torture. Seeing ANBU members and Jōnins, Iruka was very worried. "What's going on?"

"See for yourself," the Third Hokage said he stepped out of the closet that held the scrolls. Iruka walked into the closet and his eyes widened in surprise. One slot in the wall did not hold a scroll. 'Who would dare steal a scroll from the village?' Iruka thought. He turned to the Third Hokage who was ready to ask his question. "Some of the ninjas here have some ideas on who the culprit could possibly be," the Third Hokage said as he pointed towards the crowd of shinobis.

One of the ANBU members stepped up to address Iruka. "I'm sorry to say this to you Iruka, but I believe that "White-Eyed Prankster is behind this." Iruka eyes widened at the mention of one of his students. "She always pulls things like this. Painting the Hokage statues, playing hooky, and disrespecting countless shinobis, this girl is a menace and she's gone too far."

"I don't think so," a special Jōnin just stepped up pushing his black glasses that cover only his eyes closer to his face. This man's name is Ibis, a master of chakra control. He wore a blue bandana, blue jumpsuit, and a stern expression. He turned around to face the crowd, turning his back to Iruka. "Well, it is true that the Hyūga girl has committed many pranks in the past few years, they have been nothing more than juvenile. She would never do something this grand of a scale. This person would have to be someone who has a problem with the village. Let's talk about the demon boy who failed his ninja exam."

Iruka eyes widened even more. "No," he said in a whisper.

Ebisu turned around and looked straight at Iruka. "That's right, Iruka. I'm speaking of the Naruto Uzumaki."

The mention of the Jinchūruki's name instantly brought murmurs of content towards the possible thief of the scroll. Disbelief and anger started to consume Iruka. "So, you mean to tell me that the suspects for an S ranked crime are two students of the ninja academy. Explain to me how ..."

"Iruka, calm down," the Third Hokage said with force. Iruka fell silent instantly. "It doesn't matter who stole the scroll, all that matters is that we find it quickly. If someone out of the village was able to get their hands on the scroll, then our secret would be used by enemy ninja. We need to get back that scroll by any means necessary. Dismissed." All the ninjas in the Hokage's office dispersed throughout the Hidden Leaf Village.

*Flashback Over*

Iruka was now searching the forest looking for the thief. He had no idea who could have stolen the scroll, but he hoped that his two accused students had nothing to do with it.

*An Hour Later*

Iruka started to become fearful. There was no sign of the scroll and there was a report that neither Hinata nor Naruto were home at the moment. As time passed, Iruka allowed the words of Ebisu to formulate in his mind. What if Naruto decided to steal the scroll because he did not become a ninja? It seemed impossible at the time, but the facts pointed to that outcome.

Iruka passed through the forest until he reached a clearing. When he stood in the clearing, he immediately saw the missing scroll opened up. A few metres away, he saw that it was his favourite sensei. He stood up and gave his sensei a big smile. "You won't believe it, Iruka sensei. I did it."

"Did what?" Iruka asked confused. He looked at Naruto and noticed that he looked just like he did when he took his exit exam earlier today.

"Mizuki told me about the extra credit assignment, where I have to learn a jutsu from the scroll, and I did it."

"Wait, what?"

"Naruto-kun! Iruka-sensei: Watch out!"

Before he could question Naruto, Iruka felt the full weight of Hinata knocking both Naruto and him out of the path of a giant shuriken. He then turned his attention to Hinata, who was looking up at the trees with her Byakugan activated. Iruka followed her gaze to see Mizuki up there with an evil smile and another giant shuriken hand. "Mizuki," Iruka yelled at his childhood friend, "What are you doing?"

Mizuki just laughed at Iruka, "What do you think I'm doing? I'm getting rid of the Uzumaki brat once and for all."

"Oh no you don't"

At once, Hinata launched herself to take down the man who threatened her best friend's life. "HINATA, WAIT!" Iruka yelled. But it was too late. At once, Mizuki grabbed Hinata's arm and threw her into a tree. Hinata fell to the floor and lost consciousness.

"LADY HINATA! NO," Naruto yelled. Hinata is the strongest person that Naruto knows and Mizuki disposed of her quickly. "Mizuki sensei, why?" Naruto asked with tears falling from his eyes.

"Because, Naruto, it's time for you to die," Mizuki said as he threw his second large shuriken at Naruto.

Naruto closed his eyes, waiting for the impact of the shuriken to hit him. Naruto looked up to see Iruka over his body with the shuriken in his back. "I-Iruka sensei?" Naruto asked confused.

"Naruto, grab the scroll and run away. Don't worry, I'll protect Hinata. Just go, NOW," Iruka said. Naruto squirmed from under Iruka, grabbed the scroll, and took off running in the trees. Iruka stood up took the shuriken out of back and faced Mizuki. "What are you trying to get at, Mizuki?"

"Isn't it obvious, old friend? I need that scroll to hand it over to Sound Village. Killing the Kyūbi is just a bonus."

Iruka raised an eyebrow. "Why the Sound... Realisation began to enter Iruka's mind. No, NO. I'll stop you," Iruka declared as he took his fighting stance.

*With Naruto*

Naruto was now sitting in a forest clearing, far away the clearing he was in earlier. The weight of the scroll, along with all the training that he did, left Naruto unable to travel very far. He decided to wait for his sensei to find him.

Naruto could not believe the situation that he was in. Mizuki-sensei had lied to him about an extra credit assignment so that he couldn't finish him off. Also, he had put Iruka-sensei and Lady Hinata in terrible danger, and had no idea if the two were okay. Two ideas went through Naruto's mind on what he did next. Either he could stay there and wait for Iruka, or Mizuki, to catch up to him, or he could go and get some help, leaving the scroll unguarded.

Before Naruto could make a decision, Iruka-sensei came into the clearing. He looked at Naruto and smiled, "Good, Mizuki hasn't found you yet. Come on, give me the scroll and then we can find some help."

Naruto stayed seated on the scroll. Something did not add up to the Jinchūruki. The first thing that seemed odd was that Iruka looked completely healthy, as if a giant shuriken never hit him. The other thing was that Hinata was not with him. Iruka had told Naruto that he would protect Hinata, but Hinata was not with this Iruka. Naruto decided to test if it was really Iruka and threw a kunai knife at him.

The Iruka imposter dodged and then smirked. "Looks like you're not as stupid as I thought, 'Demon Brat'. Doesn't matter, I'm still going to kill you," Mizuki said as he got out of the Iruka disguise. He prepared to throw a large shuriken at the blond boy.

Naruto looked at his malicious sense with fear and confusion. "But why," the shy kid pleaded, "Why do you want to kill me?"

Mizuki sighed, "Well, since you're going to be dead, I guess it doesn't matter. Naruto, you hold the Nine-Tailed Fox within you." Naruto eyes widened with surprise. He had heard that the fox had destroyed the village until the Fourth Hokage stopped it. He had no idea that the demon was put inside of him. "That's why the villagers hate you, because _you_ killed their friends and family, including your beloved sensei's parents."

Naruto couldn't believe it; actually, he could believe what Mizuki had just told him. It explained everything about his life. People spoke about him behind his back, tormented him, and isolated him because he was a demon. He had even killed the parents of one of the few people that are kind to him.

Mizuki looked at the defeated look on Naruto and laughed. "Looks like you finally know the truth. Now die, demon fox," Mizuki said as he threw the giant shuriken. The giant shuriken travelled towards the boy, eventually hitting its target.

But when the shuriken hit the host of the demonic fox, the boy turned into a puff of smoke and vanished. At that moment, Mizuki saw a wave of orange jump from the trees. The corrupted Chūnin was surrounded by fifty Narutos. "You can come and hurt me, I deserve it after all the terrible things that I've done," Naruto and his clones said softly. (A/N Due to the face that there are many clones of Naruto, his voice's volume is at a natural volume that people can hear.) "But you don't dare hurt Iruka-sensei or Lady Hinata." Then, Naruto and his copies charged at the blue haired men. Some clones tripped over their feet and dissolved, but the majority of clones reached Mizuki and beat him into an inch of his life. After Mizuki reached a state of unconsciousness, Naruto fainted from a depletion of chakra and all of his clones disappeared.

*With Iruka*

Iruka had finally regained consciousness after Mizuki had knocked him out. Mizuki sent a barrage of kunai knives and shuriken stars at Iruka, only to strike the scarred Chūnin in the back. He was now racing through the woods with the knocked out heiress on his back. Despite the damage that Mizuki did to him and the Hyūga's weight on his back, Iruka traversed past the trees to find his other student. He feared of what Mizuki might do to the shy blond, so he rushed to protect Naruto.

Iruka finally reached a tree that had the scroll resting on it. Iruka grabbed the scroll and looked past the tree. He saw a clearing with two figures sprawled across the ground, unconscious. Iruka set Hinata down against the tree and put the scroll in her lap. He approached the two figures and realised that it was Naruto and Mizuki. He reached Naruto's body first with fear on his face. He gave a sigh of relief when he noticed that Naruto had passed out due to an overuse of chakra. He then turned his attention to Mizuki who looked as if he was hit with a car, truck, train, boat, and plane in succession. "It serves you right, you traitor," Iruka spat at his former friend and comrade.

Naruto, then, starred to stir and Iruka focused his attention to his student. He turned to see the blond Jinchūruki sitting up and rubbing his face. "Looks like you can put up a decent fight." Naruto turned around to see his Chūnin instructor smiling at him. Naruto quickly scrambled to his feet and ran behind a tree, hiding from his sensei. Iruka gave Naruto a half amused, half confused smile as he walked towards the tree. "What's the problem?"

Naruto looked down as he clung to the tree he was hiding behind. "W-why are you being nice to me, Iruka sensei, when I k-killed your parents?" Iruka gave Naruto a confused look, not knowing what he was talking about. Naruto started crying and shocking as he struggled to continue. "Mizuki sensei told me that I am the Nine-Tailed Fox. He said that the entire village hated me because I killed their friends and family. I'm so sorry that I did all those things."

Iruka looked at his students with a frown. Hearing Naruto apologise for something that he didn't do was too much for Iruka to bear. He put his arm on Naruto's shoulder to comfort Naruto. Naruto's crying turned to silent sob and his shaking died down. He looked up at his sensei with a sombre look. "You're not the Nine-Tailed Fox, Naruto. You carry the great burden of containing the feral demon. The people of this village hate you because they don't understand that you have saved them, not hurt them. The Fourth Hokage himself declared you a hero for holding the spirit of the fox within yourself. You are the hero of the Hidden Leaf Village, Naruto Uzumaki, not the destroyer."

"But why," Naruto asked, "Why are you telling me this now?"

"It was a law set by the Third Hokage. No village was allowed to talk about the Nine-Tailed Fox of harm the holder in any way. The only time this law can be ignored is if the holder, you, decided to talk about it. You were not supposed to find out until you were ready," Iruka gave a hard stare at the unconscious. Mizuki when he said this statement. "But now you know the truth." He gave a look towards the unconscious Hyūga. "None of the student knows your student know your secret, so you don't need to fear them."

Naruto was glad to hear that. He was afraid that Hinata, Ino, Chōji, and Kiba wouldn't be his friends if they knew the truth. He would tell them one days but he needed to know how they would handle it. "Thank you Iruka-sensei, for being polite to me."

Iruka chuckled at Naruto's comment. He took his headband off and put it on the head of the remarkable boy. "Don't sweat it. Besides, I'm nice to my fellow ninja."

Naruto touched the headband on his head, his eyes wide with shock. "You mean... I ..."

"Yes, Naruto. You have, as of now, graduated from the ninja academy. You are now a full-fledged shinobi of the Hidden Leaf Village. Congratulations!"

Naruto couldn't believe his ears. The dream that he has had for a long time has finally come true. Despite all of the people that said he couldn't do it, Naruto's determination had finally paid off. Unable to control himself, Naruto started to shed tears of joy as he hugged his former sensei, "Thank you, Iruka sensei."

Iruka wrapped his arms around the new ninja of the Hidden Leaf Village. "It is okay, Naruto," he broke the hug, "Now we should get you and your fellow Genin," at this he pointed at Hinata, "home. You both have to be at the academy at 800 sharp. Understand?" Naruto nodded his head in approval. He waited for Iruka to pick up Hinata and the scroll, before he headed home, heavily anticipation his first day as a full-fledged ninja.

*The Next Day*

Hinata walked on her path to the ninja academy. It was 7:45 and Hinata decided to be early today. She was very excited about being a Genin with a professional Jōnin. However, her excitement could not cover up how upset she was. Naruto was not going to join her as a ninja and that saddened her. But that was the last thing as her mind.

Last night, Naruto was in danger because Mizuki trying to kill him. According to her father, Hiashi Hyūga, Hinata had rushed into a fight and was knocked out. Her father refused to tell her more, so she knew nothing about Naruto, Mizuki, or Iruka. She feared the worst that Naruto could possibly be dead. _No, there is no way that Naruto will fail against him_, Hinata thought. But as she got closer to the academy, doubt started to settle in.

When she opened the doors, Hinata's eyes travelled to where Naruto sits. Even though Naruto didn't graduate, Hinata still wished to see him. She was stunned for a moment when she saw a blond boy sitting down, his eyes on the ground and a headband on his head. She rubbed her eyes furiously to make sure that she wasn't imaging things. When Naruto's image still remained in her eyes, Hinata squealed loudly and ran up to him. "Naruto, you're here and you have a headband on. That means you're a ninja. But how? And what happened to Mizuki?" Hinata screamed excitedly.

The force of the pupil-less kunoichi screams made Naruto fall out of his seat. He stood up, regained his composure, and looked down at the ground. "Well, Mizuki told me a lie about an extra credit assignment to become a ninja. I did what he asked and then Iruka sensei found me."

"Yeah, I remember that part. I pushed you and Iruka out of the way. What happened when I got knocked out?"

Mizuki threw a shuriken at me and Iruka sensei got in the way. He told me to run off with the scroll, which I did. Mizuki caught up to me, but I used the jutsu I learned to defect him."

"Wait, you learned a new jutsu?"

"Yeah and Iruka let me graduate because of it," Naruto finished off smiling at Hinata.

"That's great Naruto. And," Hinata put her head down. A little pink blush formed on her cheeks. "I'm sorry that I yelled at you yesterday at you yesterday. You obviously do care, since you learned a jutsu. I was out of line and I hope you forgive me."

"No, Lady Hinata," Hinata head shot up to see Naruto looking down, fiddling with his fingers. "I was started to give up becoming a ninja. But you helped me remember that this was something I really wanted. So, thanks for reminding me of my dream."

Hinata's face went beat red. She turned around to hide her face from Naruto. "You're welcome, Naruto. L-let's get ready for today," she said as she walked back to her seat.

*15 minutes later*

All of the student s in the academy arrived later, anticipating their next step to becoming ninjas. Ino, Kiba, and Chōji arrived and congratulated Naruto on becoming a ninja like the rest of them. Sasuke shot Naruto a dirty look when the seeing the Leaf Ninja headband on the shy blonde's forehead. Hinata, still flustered from her earlier conversation with Naruto, stayed uncharacteristically quiet while waiting for Iruka to show up.

"Okay, let's get all of you assigned to your classes." Iruka said, walking into the classroom and quieting his previous students. Since the only injury in his fight with Iruka was to his back, he didn't look as if he was in a battle with his former friend yesterday. "Squad 1 will be ..."

As Iruka read off the list, students nodded and looked at each other. Naruto got very nervous as names got read off. He started to have a bad feeling that he would be teamed up with Sasuke. Since Naruto had the lowest score and Sasuke was rumoured to have the best score, Naruto was fretting the inevitable.

"Squad 7 will be Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and ..." Naruto closed his eyes, fearing his name being called, "Kiba Inuzuka." Naruto opened his eyes in surprise. He thought for sure that he was going to be put on that team. _Wait, if Sasuke isn't the top student, then doesn't that mean that..._

"Squad 8 will be Chōji Akimichi, Hinata Hyūga, and Naruto Uzumaki." When Naruto heard his name, he gave a shy smile. His head was exploding with excitement in the prospect of teaming with the person that he wished he could be more like. He looked down at her and saw that she looked pretty content with her team. Unbeknownst to him, the mentioned Hyūga had a party going on in her own head.

"Squad 9 will be Shikamaru Nara, Ino Yamanaka, and Shino Aburame." The class was in shock. It was known throughout the village that a common ninja team with one member from the Nara, Yamanaka, and Akimichi clan. However, instead of teaming with Chōji, Shikamaru and Ino fine themselves paired with Shino. A quiet boy who wears a blue jacket that comes up to his collar, Shino has been described as mysterious since he usually keeps to himself.

Eventually, Iruka finished off the rest of the squads. Right when he finished, Sasuke made himself heard. "Hey, Iruka-sensei, what gives? I thought the highest ranked student goes with the lowest ranked student."

"Correct," Iruka said, not looking at the Uchiha. "The lowest ranked student, Naruto Uzumaki, got placed with the highest ranked student, Hinata Hyūga." Sasuke was livid at the fact that anyone could be a better ninja than him. He was angered further at the fact that the student better than him was the Hyūga girl. Hinata, on the other hand, was beaming that she was the top student in the academy.

"Okay, you guys are dismissed. Come back at around 1200 to meet your Jōnin sensei.

*Outside the Academy*

Naruto and Chōji were waiting in the playground of the academy. Hinata told them to wait there until she came back. Naruto kept his eyes to the ground, while Chōji ate some chips.

"I don't know about you, Naruto," Chōji commented, "but I'm happy about our team arrangement.

Naruto slowly looked up at Chōji. "I'm very happy as well," the blonde boy quietly said. "I was afraid that I might end up with Sasuke, but I'm glad I'm with you and Lady Hinata."

"Someone called my name," Hinata said, as she appeared behind the two boys. "Sorry, Ino was upset that she was teamed with the two quietest shinobis in the Hidden Leaf Village. Anyway, I was thinking that since we are a team, we should think about having a team name."

"Well," Chōji started, "my dad told me that he took parts of his teammates name and made it into at team name. His team's name was called Ino-Shika-Cho."

"That sounds awesome," Hinata said. "We should do that with our team.

They thought for a second, trying to think of ways to put their names together. "How about we call ourselves Hina-Naru-Cho?" Naruto suggested. His face then turned to fear, "Sorry, that's a stupid name."

Hinata stared at Naruto for a bit and then smiled. "I like it, but I would change it a bit. How about we go with Naru-Hina-Cho instead?"

Naruto nodded his head in agreement. Chōji finished his bag of potato chips and gave her thumbs up. "Sure, I couldn't think of anything better," the pudgy boy declared.

"Okay, from this moment, we are Team Naru-Hina-Cho," Hinata declared with excitement.

"At that moment, a woman giggled behind the new team. "We'll see."

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I hope you liked all the excitement that happened. I think Chapter 4 might me longer because I have to add a lot of stuff in that one. Anyway review and comment and I'll try to make the next upload quicker.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: The Final Exam

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Sorry, I don't own these ninjas, but I'll still write about them.

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Hey guys. Here's another chapter that took longer to type up then write about. It's so good to be back. Anyway, last time you read here, you say Naruto become a ninja, saw the team he was put in, and met his new sensei. I hope you guys love what I've done with the test that the team of Naru-Hina-Cho have to pass to become full fledged ninjas.

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*At the Hokage's Office*

Kurenai, the Third Hokage, and various other Jōnin were in the Hokage's Office. They were there to be assigned their Genin team. At first, they were very excited to start teaching all that they know. However, after waiting for a certain one-eyed ninja for two hours, the excitement had left their eyes.

Kurenai Yūhi was one of the few kunoichi to obtain the rank of Jōnin. She wore a white kimono that has one red sleeve. The kimono barely falls to the top of her legs, showing the top part of her legs to be taped. The white kimono bore many black stripes that resemble rose thorns, going diagonally across the kimono. Her Ninja Leaf headband was over her forehead and she had her forearms taped like her legs. Her black hair fell down to her shoulders, untamed. And her red intense eyes looked bored and she rested her head on the hand as she waited for the meeting to start.

The Third Hokage called for all of them to meet early to find out what Genin would be a part of their team. Usually this meeting would be the same day as the exams, the Jōnin finding out their teams right as soon as they passed. But due to the missing scroll incident and a student passing at the end of the day, the meeting was postponed. Now they had to meet early to find out their teams for two reasons. All Jōnin needed to find their teams so they could prepare to meet up with them. As teachers, they needed to figure out what methods they would need to employ to teach their students. Also, the teams needed to be discussed before the students were assigned their teams. Students couldn't get their assignments until their instructors found out first. So, all the Jōnin showed up early, ready to receive their teams. All except Kakashi Hatake; who just entered the door with all the other shinobi glaring at him.

Kakashi Hatake wore a standard Village Hidden in the Leaves shinobi outfit. A blue long-sleeved shirt and pants with a green combat vest over the shirt. He wore a dark blue mask (same shade as the jacket and pants) that covered both his nose and mouth. He put his Ninja Leaf headband over his left eye. His hair was snow white and it spiked up. He rubbed his head with his hand while his right eye was closed. "Sorry everybody, I got caught up..." the "Copycat Ninja" fell silent as he saw all the angry glares from all the other Jōnin. He hung his head and fell to the far back.

The Hokage walked to the front and faced all the Jōnin. "Welcome! Now that everyone is here, let's get started. Today you will all receive your Genin teams. Your mission is to train your squad to become great ninja for The Village Hidden in the Leaves. Now remember, only nine Genin can continue on to actually become full-fledged shinobi. So, please test them to make sure they are up to the task. Now, let's get down to the squad breakdown."

Kurenai was very excited to receive her team. She was very interested in a great number of ninja from the academy. Becoming a Jōnin a few months ago, Kurenai was ready to prove that she could be an effective teacher for a team of Genin. She loved the idea of passing her knowledge to a team of aspiring ninjas.

"Squad 7 will led by Kakashi Hatake and consist of Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno and Naruto Uzumaki." Kurenai eyes popped open when she heard the last name. Anybody who listened to Iruka's reports knew that Sasuke Uchiha constantly bothered and bullied Naruto. She wondered why the Third Hokage would put them together, but she decided to wait until after he finished assigning the teams to ask him that question. "Now, due to the scores of some individual Genin, I had to break up the traditional Nara-Yamanaka-Akimichi paring to keep the teams equal. "Squad 8 will be led by Kurenai Yūhi and consist of Hinata Hyūga, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shikamaru Nara. Squad 9 will be led by Asuma Sarutobi and consist of Shino Aburame, Ino Yamanaka, and Chōji Akimichi."

After he finished the squad assignment, he started to conclude the meeting. "Those are your squads. Please teach them as you see fit. If you have no questions, then you can get ready to meet them."

"Actually, I have a question." All eyes turned to the crimson-eyed ninja as she stepped forward and raised her hand. "I wanted to ask about the Genin squad placement, if you do not mind, Lord Hokage," she requested as she put her hand down and bowed.

"By all means, Kurenai."

"I just would like to know why you placed Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki together. We have heard from Iruka that Sasuke constantly torments Naruto. I don't see how placing the two together can possibly help Naruto improve."

"I see your concern Kurenai, but this is how the scores went. Naruto had the lowest test scores and Sasuke had the highest test scores. To keep all teams on equal footing, we have to have them together. I'm sorry, but that is the way they have to be."

"Please sir is it possible to trade him to my team?"

Most of the surrounding Jōnin were shocked at the kunoichi's request. She was actually asking to have the Kyūbi on her team with no hesitation. They wondered why she would want to have that "thing" on her team. However, the Third Hokage smiled at her request. "Lucky for you, Hinata and Sasuke's were not that far from each other. But who would you like to give to Kakashi in exchange?"

Kurenai thought hard about this. Obviously, she could not trade Hinata, due to her high scores. Even if it that wasn't a factor, Kurenai still would not get rid of the "White-Eyed Prankster. A promising kunoichi with the Byakugan was too valuable to give away. So, she focused on the other two ninja. In her opinion, Shikamaru's Shadow Possession Jutsu is an excellent ally, despite him being lazy. Kiba's nose and his speed would be very helpful in other missions. In the end, she figured that having an Inuzuka and Naruto wouldn't be a good idea for the fact that both deal with dog-like tendencies.

"I think that Kiba would do better with Kakashi's team," Kurenai said after a while. "As much as I like to have him, his fighting style might be very similar to Naruto."

"Then, we will swap those two. However, since the skill level is off balance, we will also have to switch Shikamaru Nara and Chōji Akimichi. Are the three of you okay with the change?" Kurenai and Asuma both thought about it, while Kakashi pulled out an orange book entitled Make-Out Paradise, waiting for the two to finish their thoughts. Asuma wore the same clothes as Kakashi. He had a black beard and hair that's spiky. Besides now, he could usually be seen with a cigarette and he had a lazy expression that could rival any Nara. As the son of the Third Hokage, he was a very accomplished shinobi.

Kurenai thought hard about switching two of her original teammates. Choji's skills in taijutsu were very impressive. He might be too slow for her liking, but his ability to beat down opponents would be very helpful. Also, she would like it if she had three teammates that actually cared about missions. After thinking long and hard, she nodded her head. Asuma also nodded her head, while Kakashi saw them and nodded his head as well. "Good. Now, Kurenai, having Hinata on your team will be troubling enough. Are you sure you can deal with her and help Naruto grow?

"I'm sure of it," Kurenai said with a confident smile.

*Outside the Academy*

Naruto and the others turned around to look at the woman that made the comment. At once, Naruto hid behind Hinata. Ever since he found out he was the demon fox, he was afraid of how adults would treat him.

Hinata stood up, creating a barrier between Naruto on the strange women, "Who are you?"

Kurenai looked at her new students. First, she noticed Naruto hiding behind Hinata in fear. Then, she looked at Hinata who stood up and was ready to fight her. Finally, she looked at Chōji who was eating a bag of potato chips. 'Wow' Kurenai thought, 'A coward, hot-head, and glutton. This _is _going to be tough work.'

"I'm your new sensei, Kurenai Yūhi, "Kurenai said with a smile. Hinata lowered her guard, while Naruto stopped clutching onto Hinata's pant leg and stood up next to her. Chōji continued to eat his chips, but did in a more respectable manner. "Would you like to follow me? I would like to get to know all three of you better." All three students nodded and followed their new sensei."

*At the Training Ground*

Kurenai took a seat on a tree stump, while Naruto, Hinata, and Chōji leaned against the three training logs. "Okay, I would like for you to give me your names, likes, dislikes, and goals." When the students looked at her with a confused look, Kurenai sighed and stood up. "Like this. My name is Kurenai Yūhi. I like spending time with my friend Anko and learning new types of Genjutsu. I dislike men who think woman are not fit to be ninjas and bullies who attack people for no reason." Naruto eyes widened when his sensei said that. Kurenai looked over at Naruto and gave him a wink, which caused the Jinchūruki's eyes wider. "My goal is to pass on my skills to ninja willing to learn."

After hearing their sensei, the three Genin became very interested. Hinata found her sensei to be a strong kunoichi that she could look up to. Chōji determined that this is one person he doesn't want to get on the wrong side of. Naruto thought; however were a lot more complex. _Does she not hate me?_ Naruto thought. _She winked. Does that mean that she doesn't care about all that I have done?_

Hinata decided that it was her turn, so she stood up and gave her description with vibrato. "My name is Hinata Hyūga. My likes are walking around the village and hanging out with my friends Ino, Naruto, Chōji and Kiba." At this comment, she put an arm around Choji's neck and an arm around Naruto's neck. "My dislikes are jerks who think that they are better than everyone else and the mindless idiots that follow them. My goal is to become the greatest leader of the Hyūga clan ever. Believe it."

Kurenai surveyed "The White Prankster" intently. _She's loud, brash, outgoing, a bit of a rebel and a major tomboy. She's not afraid of much and she seems to be very loyal to her friends. She's going to be a handful, but she might be very good at teamwork._

Not wanting to force Naruto to go next, Chōji stood up and put his potato chip bag down. "My name is Chōji Akimichi. My likes are talking to my friends and eating potato chips. My dislikes are people who call me fat. I'm a chubby ninja and proud of it. My goal is to uphold my clan's traditions."

_He's a very passionate young man. It mainly is about food, but he cares about his friends and family as well. He wants to respect his family and protect the things her cares about. He might be very good at taking direction. _Kurenai thought as the chubby ninja sat down.

Noticing that he was the only one not to go, Naruto nervously stood up stared at the ground and quietly introduced himself. "My name is..."

"I'm sorry, but I can't hear you," Kurenai interrupted. "Would you please look up and speak louder?" She knew that this was out of Naruto's comfort zone, but she needed him to overcome his shyness for him to become a great ninja.

"I'm sorry," Naruto said a little louder as he lifted his head to look directly at his sensei. Kurenai automatically felt guilty by making Naruto apologises and felt even worse when she saw the blonde's fear filled eyes. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I like spending time with my friends. My dislikes are causing people trouble and disappointing people that care about me. My goal is to gain everyone's respect and become Hokage of Konoha."

Kurenai's eyes, as well as Hinata and Chōji eyes, widened on hearing what Naruto goals were. _He's shy, timid, and blames himself for things that are not out of control. His skills in Taijutsu and Ninjutsu are lacking and he second guesses himself on everything. Yet, he still has a dream of becoming Hokage? This is going to be harder than I thought. Still, the fact that he has a strong passion to train, he might improve very quickly. Also, his will to please people will make his obedience, team work, skills, and battle strategy techniques very effective._

"Okay everyone," Kurenai said. "Bring all of the ninja gear you have at your disposal. We will meet in this location. Any questions?"

Hinata raised her hand. "Kurenai –sensei, what did you mean when you said 'we'll see' when we were talking about our team name?"

Kurenai smiled and waved off the question. "Don't worry about it Hinata. Now, do we all know what we need to for tomorrow?" Everyone nodded their heads. "Good. Then I'll see you all tomorrow."

*The Next Day*

When Naruto and the others got to the training ground, they saw Kurenai sitting on the same tree stump that she was sitting on yesterday. She looked at them with a serious look on her face. The intensity of her red eyes caused Naruto to walk behind his two friends, which wasn't missed by Kurenai.

"Good morning everyone," Kurenai said. "I have some important things that I need to go over, so I need you three to listen closely." When all three gave their sensei their undivided attention, Kurenai continued. "First off, the three of you are not shinobi of the Hidden Leaf Village yet."

"What do you mean?" Hinata said in an angry outburst. "Are you telling me that we spent all that time in this academy for nothing? All three of us passed our exams, all of us. How can you tell us we aren't ninja?" Hinata finished in a huff. She was beside herself with anger. She couldn't stand that her friends and she weren't ninjas. Passing the exams was supposed to be their entrances to the world of shinobis, but that wasn't the case, apparently. Hinata looked over at Naruto, who eyes had found its way to the ground. He had to do so much to become a Genin and it seemed to be all for nothing.

"Calm down, Hinata. The reason why is because only nine of the students from the academy are allowed to become a ninja. You must be tested to see how well you can work on missions. So, your final exam is to knock me on my back."

"That's it?" Chōji asked. "That doesn't seem bad."

"Yep, that's all you have to do. However, I'll not be going easily on any of you. You did pass the academy; you should be able to handle it. Also, I will only be teaching the person who knocks me over." All three of their mouths fell wide open. "Sorry, but I need to train those who have potential. I'll close my eyes and let you hide for ten seconds. Go," Kurenai said as she closed her eyes. Naruto, Hinata, and Chōji looked at each other before finding places to hide in any direction.

After ten seconds, Kurenai opened her eyes to find herself pleasantly surprised. As she looked throughout the woods, she could find no trace of her "opponents" at all. She thought she would at least be able to locate Naruto (due to his nervousness) or Chōji (due to his girth), but they had concealed themselves excellently, along with their loud friend. _I must say_, Kurenai thought to herself, _these guys excel at hiding in the trees very well_.

Kurenai stood in the area for around ten minutes before she had to move the hair out of her face. As soon as she moved to her hand to her face, she heard light, but fast footsteps approaching. She smiled, ducked, and looked above as she saw a pale hand above her. She flashed an open grin as she looked into the shocked face of "The White-Eyed Prankster." Hinata placed both of her hands on the ground and did a front flip to land on her feet. She turned around to face Kurenai, who stood back up with a light smile on her.

"Good job, Hinata," Kurenai said as she put her right hand on her hip. "You're fast and can be quiet as necessary. But, you are going to have to do better if you want to knock me down.

Hinata smiled and threw a palm right at her sensei. Kurenai reacted by grabbing the Hyūga's right wrist and then she noticed something. If she would have allowed Hinata's hit to connect, then the force could have made Kurenai stumble. _How in the world can a Genin have this much power?_ As this thought went through the Jōnin's mind, Hinata directed her other hand towards the "Crimsoned –Eyed Beauty's" chest. Kurenai grabbed the Hyūga's hand with her other free hand. When Hinata noticed that her sensei held her arms in an "X" formation, she smiled wildly. "Believe it, sensei," she shouted as she dropped into a sitting position, causing Kurenai to stumble forward. As she stumbled, Hinata pulled back to bring her future sensei to be down. Kurenai let herself be pulled but she landed on her feet and brought Hinata into the air and flipped her over her head. When Hinata was about to become face and face to Kurenai, the Jōnin sent a kick right into the brash heir's stomach. Hinata flew in the air, all the way into the bushes and was no longer in sight.

As Kurenai saw the first ninja-in-training fly into the woods, she let of a big sigh. _Wow, that was a very impressive strategy to bring me down. If I wasn't paying attention, she would have passed my test with no problem. I'm going to have to pay more attention to her from now on._ Before, she could completely catch her breath; she was knocked down by a massive amount of weight. At least, that was what Chōji thought, until the lady under him disappeared leaving only a log under him. Chōji eyes went wide as he got pulled into a tight headlock. Chōji grabbed the arm and tried to pull it away from his neck. Then he felt his sensei's face next to his. "Nice try, Chōji," Kurenai whispered in his ear. "I admit that you caught me off guard. If I had thought that Hinata was my only opponent, then you would have knocked me down to the ground. Try harder next time." She then let go of his neck and grabbed his hands. She then started to spin Chōji around, making Chōji dizzy. She let go of the Akimichi, throwing him in the direction that she kicked Hinata.

She pushed the hair out of her face and looked up to the sky. She put her hand up to block the sun from her eyes. "They better hurry, time is almost up."

*In the forest*

Hinata was very upset. She's not a person who takes failure very well. She was lost on how to take her sensei down. Whenever Hinata was met with a situation, she always found a way to accomplish her goal. No matter if it was completing a jutsu, activating her clan's kekkei genkai, or playing numerous pranks all around the village; Hinata always found a way to finish her goals. But now she had no idea how to take her sensei down. She had executed a strategy that she was sure would have done the trick, but she failed and got kicked in the stomach. She stood back up, only to get knocked down by a flying Chōji.

"Chōji, get off me," Hinata said irritated.

"Oh, sorry Hinata. Here," Chōji said as he got up and offered Hinata a hand.

Hinata took his hand. "Thanks." She got and, put her hands on her hips and started to pace back and forth. "Man, this is impossible. There is no way to..." She trailed off as she noticed an orange jumpsuit.

Naruto was sitting on the ground behind a tree. He did not look like he was getting ready to fight Kurenai. Instead, he looked sad so he looked at the headband that he took off and held in his hand.

Hinata walked over to Naruto which Chōji following behind. "Naruto, what are you doing? Aren't you going to take on Kurenai-sensei?"

Naruto kept his eyes to his headband as he gripped it tighter. "You guys deserve to be ninja more than me. I'm not going to take that away from you guys."

Hinata and Choji's eyes went wide with surprised. They looked at each other and then looked at the ground. Since this "test" started, all they thought about was knocking their sensei over and getting trained. They forgot that two of them would be sent back to the academy. Hinata went down to Naruto's level. "You're wrong Naruto-kun." Naruto looked up at Hinata. "All three of us deserve to be ninja. We're Naru-Hina-Cho. We're going to stay as a team, no matter what. Isn't that right Chōji?

Chōji gave both of his friends a big smile. "Right, Hinata."

"So, what do you say Naruto-kun? Do you want to knock over our sensei?" Hinata said with a smile as she extended her hand. Naruto returned it with a small smile of his own as he took her head to raise him up.

*With Kurenai*

Kurenai looked back to the sky. The sun was almost directly above her. "Hmmm, three minutes left, she said to herself. "Those kids better hurry of they will all fail." As soon as she said that, she heard a group of feet coming towards her. She looked forward to see Chōji and Hinata barrelling down at her in a frontal approach. As soon as they reached her, Hinata threw consecutive palms and Chōji threw consecutive punches at her. The barrage of attacks caused Kurenai to shield herself. Putting her arms in front of her, she tried to assess the situation. _This makes no sense. They both tried to take me down in non-direct, thoroughly thought out methods earlier. Now, they're just striking at me with a frontal assault. Why?_ As Kurenai pondered this, she noticed that the ninja hopefuls' attacks were finally getting to her. She notice that Hinata's attacks were covering the front and left while Chōji's attacks were covering the front and right, allowing her to only move backward. _This isn't good. If they keep this up, they might get me to trip over. I didn't want to do this, but I'm going to have to use Genjutsu to stop them._ At once, Kurenai pushed her arms forward, causing both Hinata and Chōji to fall back. She took a step back and ... "Umph." As Kurenai tried to turn around, she fell on her back. She lifted her neck to see Naruto couched over. She looked to the sky and noticed that the sun was directly over her. _Just in time_, she smiled as she sat up. As she rose, she looked at the hand of the boy that knocked her over. She took it to face the children that she had just faced. "Good job to all of you. Unfortunately, I will only train Naruto since he..."

"No," Naruto interrupted with great voice. He looked at his sensei with determined. When Kurenai gave Naruto a confused look, the blond boy's face fell and he started to look at the ground and fidget with his fingers. "I mean, I won't be able to train with you."

"Why not, Naruto? You earned the right to train with me. Why won't you take it?"

"Because we are a team," Naruto answered, gesturing to Hinata and Choji. "We graduated together and we're put on the same team. They're my friends and I won't train without them."

"That's very noble of you. But how do you know that your friends wouldn't have done the same thing?"

"Because we're friends," Hinata stood in front of Naruto. "We stand together no matter what. Even if I knocked you down, I would gladly go back to the academy with Naruto and Chōji. Like I said before, we are Team Naru-Hina-Cho. Believe it!"

Kurenai looked at Chōji and he nodded to her. She looked at all of them with no emotion on her face. "Well, since you guys are so close together there is only one thing to say." Kurenai then smiled at her students. "You all pass. You are now officially ninjas of the Hidden Leaf Village and my students. Congratulations."

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How was that? Hope you all loved how I handled everything. I tried to explain all of my changes as best as possible. If any of you got lost, please tell me in review and I'll try to explain it better. Right now, I have take a break on my P&F fanfiction one-shots and Dragon Ball Z fanfiction to focus on my Naruto and Beyblade fanfiction. They will be back but these are taking more thought that I thought was needed. Anyway, hope you liked and I'll be back as soon as possible.


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